Telephony and loudspeaker

The Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) is available as a single-SIM phone, but there's a dual-SIM version as well. On the latter, the SIM card manager lets you pick a preferred SIM for voice, text and data.

Dialer • Call log • Filtering the log • Call settings

The Do Not Disturb mode can be put on an automated schedule. When it's on, only priority notifications can get through hand you decide what counts as "priority" - it can be anything from calls from select contacts to reminders from key apps.

In our loudspeaker test, the Galaxy J5 (2016) scored a Below Average mark. Sadly, the phone's speaker just isn't loud enough and you could miss a call or two if you don't have vibration turned on.

Speakerphone test

Voice, dB

Pink noise/ Music, dB

Ringing phone, dB

Overall score

Sony Xperia M4 Aqua

60.2

57.2

64.5

Below Average

Sony Xperia M4 Aqua (Clear Audio)

67.5

60.7

69.0

Below Average

Oppo F1 Plus

66.3

66.2

65.9

Below Average

Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)

66.0

64.3

70.1

Below Average

Xiaomi Redmi 3

66.1

65.5

70.6

Average

Huawei P8lite

66.5

66.6

75.7

Good

Microsoft Lumia 640

70.6

65.2

75.9

Good

Motorola Moto G 3rd Gen

75.7

69.6

75.9

Very Good

Text input

The Galaxy J5 (2016) uses an updated version of the Samsung Keyboard. It's quite comfortable, with a dedicated numbers row, a row above that for word suggestions and additional characters on each key (accessible via long-press).

Keyboard • landscape mode

If that seems too tall, you can scale the keyboard down (or up, if you want bigger keys). We don't like that the Space key is quite short, though.

Keyboard size: Smallest • Default • Biggest

Additional typing tools include swipe input, My Hot Keys (predefined phrases that can be typed by long-pressing a number key) and voice dictation.

Other apps

Samsung continues to bundle the Microsoft app package that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Skype. Note that only Skype was actually installed, the rest are just shortcuts to Galaxy Apps (this way they don't take up space until you actually need and install them).

Microsoft app package

Google Drive is pre-installed, however, the actual document editors are not (they are a free download, though).

The Samsung-customized web browser features tabs, the ability to save web pages and enhanced privacy control. It's gets the job done, but if you want synchronization across devices, Chrome or Firefox are a better bet.

S Health is on board though without the advanced sensors (heart rate, blood oxygen) its functionality is more limited. It can still track walking/running/cycling and you can manually input water and coffee intake and so on.

S health is missing the hardware sensors

The My Files app is the default file browser. It features Google Drive integration. You can ZIP folders to make them easier to share as a single file.

My Files

Finally, there's Galaxy Apps, Samsung's own app store. Galaxy Essentials is a good place to find great tools (like Kids Mode), but for general app shopping, you would probably be better off with Google Play.